Rebekah Brooks Rejoins Murdoch’s News Corp As News UK Chief, Again

News Corp today confirmed what Deadline reported last week — that Rebekah Brooks is rejoining the company as chief executive of News UK. She will be joined by David Dinsmore as COO and Tony Gallagher as editor-in-chief of The Sun, Britain’s largest-selling daily newspaper.

Brooks will replace Mike Darcey, who is departing after three years in the post. Brooks left News Corp in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s empire in 2011 and led to the shuttering of the News Of The World scandal sheet.

“Rebekah will lead a great team at News UK into the digital future, while maximizing the influence and reach of our newspapers, which remain the most informative and successful in Britain and beyond,” said News Corp CEO Robert Thomson. “Her expertise, excellence and leadership will be crucial as we work to extend our relationship with readers and advertisers, and develop our digital platforms to take full advantage of our brilliant journalism.”

“I am delighted to return to News UK. It is a privilege to be back amongst the most talented journalists and executives in the business,” Brooks said. “I am confident that we can meet the many challenges of this digital age with a combination of cutting edge technologies and world class journalism. I am especially pleased to be working for Robert and thrilled to have Tony and David on board my team.”

Brooks will have added responsibilities for the acquisition and development of digital properties. She had already been back in the Murdoch business empire, been working closely with the team at Storyful, the world’s first and most successful video news agency, which supplies many companies including Facebook and Vice.

Brooks, who resigned from her News International post in 2011 in the wake of the scandal, was acquitted last June by a British court of taking part in phone hacking and illegal payments to police and public officials at News Of The World newspaper. There has been much speculation since then about whether, and when, Brooks would return to the Murdoch fold.